


LAN Party

by Masterpiece_of_turkey_cleverness



Series: Laura/Lex [2]
Category: The Agency (TV 2001), The Warlock Case Files - Juli Monroe
Genre: Differently abled character, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Gaming, M/M, Relaxing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterpiece_of_turkey_cleverness/pseuds/Masterpiece_of_turkey_cleverness
Summary: Laura invites Lex to meet her friends and play computer games.





	LAN Party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WarlockWriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlockWriter/gifts), [HixyStix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HixyStix/gifts).

> This is for the wonderful WarlockWriter and Hixystix! Both their birthdays are in a couple of days.  
This also fulfills the square, **'Kissing'** for Speight Bingo.  
Betaed by the wonderful Fal Catrecon :).

Lex glanced down at his ‘regular’ phone, and frowned; he didn’t recognize the number he’d just received a text from. He opened it anyway, and smiled when he realized who it must be. ‘Having an old-fashioned LAN party to play Quake Friday night. Interested? It’s BYOB but I'll have snacks.’

There was only one person who could have sent it, so he texted back: ‘Always on call at the greeting card company, but if I can get away, I’d love to. What time?”

Laura sent back: ‘7PM.’ 

‘I”ll let you know if I can’t make it,’ he texted back. ‘Otherwise, I’ll see you on Friday!’ He locked the phone, and then put it back in his pocket, grinning. He hadn’t been sure Laura would ever contact him again, but he was very glad that she had--even if her friends would be there to chaperone. 

Besides, he was pretty sure he could wipe the floor with everyone but her at Quake. _BFG, here I come!_ he thought to himself. 

“Lex. If you’re quite through texting your new girlfriend, I could use a hand with these IDs.” Lex shot his boss, Joshua, a glare. Moments later, he realized he’d done nothing but confirm the old man’s suspicion, and he sighed and made his way over to his computer to help. Somehow Joshua always knew everything, even before it had happened. One day, Lex would figure out how. 

.oOOo.

“Hey, welcome!” Laura greeted him when he arrived at her apartment. He still didn’t know why she felt as if she needed a metal door, but he figured he’d get around to asking her about it eventually. 

“Hi! Nice to see you again. I brought beer,” he said, lifting the six-pack of IPA up. “And these.” He pulled his hand out from behind his back and showed her the bouquet of flowers he’d got her. His non-work laptop was in his satchel, so thankfully he didn’t need a third hand to carry it.

Laura’s eyes widened, but then she smiled. “Thank you! Those would look great on the table. If you wouldn’t mind getting a vase out for them? It’s in the third cupboard to the right as you go into the kitchen.”

“Not at all,” Lex smiled down at her. She was every bit as pretty as he’d remembered, though her hair was now a shade of aquamarine. 

“Laura! Runner shot you!” a male voice called from the living room. 

“I did not! It was Dafydd!”

“Hey! You know the rules! No fragging the hostess when she goes to let someone in!” Laura didn’t really sound all that upset as she turned her chair and made her way back down the hall to the living room, where the noise was coming from. 

A friendly-looking lab came up to Lex, wagging his tail, and Lex juggled the flowers and beer so that he could give him a few pets. “Hello there, Billy.” He stopped short of the living room to go into the kitchen, where he found a variety of snacks laid out. He set the beer down on the counter, then fished in the cupboard to find the vase. 

When he turned around with it in hand, a short blonde guy who screamed ‘one of those gay friends that Jim mentioned’ was standing there, filling up a plate. His eyebrows rose, and he gave Lex a grin. “Flowers? Nice. I’m Dafydd, by the way.” 

“Lex,” he replied, going to the sink to fill the vase with water. “Nice to meet you, David.”

“Likewise, but since I’m Laura’s best friend, I need to give you the obligatory ‘I’ll kill you if you hurt her’ speech. So. I’ll kill you if you hurt her.” To Lex’s surprise, the shorter man actually managed to make it sound like a threat. 

Lex turned around to set the vase on the table, and smiled at Dafydd despite his serious tone. “We’re still just getting to know each other. Regardless, you don’t have to worry about me.” 

“Good.” Dafydd finished putting snacks on his plate, and shot a bright smile at Lex. “Load up your plate--they’re in the cupboard under there,” he added, pointing it out, “Crack open a beer, and come join us. If you want to make Laura happy, get her another. There are straws for her under there,” he added, nodding to a drawer.

“I will. Who’s the man or woman to beat?” Lex asked, as he arranged the flowers in the vase (well, sort of; he mostly just stuck them in and pulled a daisy into a more symmetrical arrangement). 

“Laura,” Dafydd admitted. “Though Paul’s really good at strategy. I’m still trying not to run into the lava every time I respawn.” 

A few minutes later, Lex settled down at a table in a chair that had clearly been moved into the room for the occasion. He was seated next to a guy called Runner, which he assumed was a nickname. Runner was big and burly, and Lex wasn’t actually sure if he was gay or not. Dafydd and Paul were on the couch, and after getting an eyeful of them, Lex was absolutely certain that Dafydd was gay and that he and Paul were together. Paul was extremely attractive for a guy, and Lex found himself irrationally happy that they seemed to have found each other; they seemed like a nice couple. Besides, it meant that maybe there was hope that he’d find someone someday. 

Lex wasted no time joining the ‘LAN’ party, and as he booted up Quake, a wave of nostalgia washed over him. “It’s been way too long since I did this,” he commented to the room in general. 

“It was Laura’s idea,” Dafydd said. “Blast from the past. Goddamnit!” Lex assumed that he’d ended up in the lava again. 

Lex wasted no time in getting a gun after spawning in the game. He almost immediately shot Dafydd--who had the screen name ‘Warlock;’ he was an easy target. Runner, who was also just Runner in the game, was not great at hiding but seemed to be a good shot, at least. He took lots of risks, which sometimes paid off and sometimes didn’t. It took a while for Lex to even /see/ Laura (Bunny) or Paul (CivilWarVet), let alone frag them a couple of times. Of course, it didn’t help that he was using his access to the network to hack into Laura’s computer so he could send her private messages. 

Which is why he was thoroughly embarrassed when a private message window opened on HIS laptop with the message, “Enjoying yourself?” Wow. Laura was _good._

“Sure am ;). And you beat me to this,” Lex added, while finding Paul and fragging him. 

“Best get used to that now ;),” Laura sent back. 

“Team up against Paul and Dafydd?” Lex was surprised when he realized that Laura being an (arguably) better hacker didn’t damage his pride. But, damn, she was hot and she had skills and she wasn’t pinging his crazy radar. Geeky, yes, but not crazy. It was also sort of fun to listen to her give voice commands to her computer; his mind was quickly pairing each of her commands with the keyboard commands he was typing in. 

Someone--no, Laura--shot him. “Nope,” came the reply seconds later. He wasn’t actually sure how she was coding the conversation without being obvious about it, but she was, and that was cool too. “House rule. No team-ups. Otherwise, even with Dafydd’s limited skills, we’d never get Paul.”

“Fine, it’s war then,” Lex responded, respawning and heading for the BFG...only to find out that someone had already grabbed it. Oh well. He went after the sniper rifle instead and then climbed a tower. He got lucky, spotted Laura, and fragged her, followed by Runner and… “Did you just fall in the lava again, man?” he called to Dafydd. 

“...Yeah,” came the somewhat dejected reply. Everyone laughed as Lex made his character ran down from the tower to go find a safer one. Laura would be respawning soon.

“You can’t be good at everything, Dafydd,” Runner said good-naturedly from beside Lex. 

“This would be so much easier if I had my powers in this game,” Dafydd grumbled. 

“Dafydd plays a warlock in all the D&D campaigns,” Laura explained breezily. 

“Ooh, who’s your pact with?” Lex asked.

“Chthulu, of course,” Laura said. “But don’t ask him about the specifics. I do most of his character sheets and things.” 

Dafydd grumbled something under his breath that Lex didn’t catch, and Paul nudged him with an elbow. 

There were drinks, and snacks, records made and broken, legendary feats of stealth and a whole lot of complaining about who shot whom. Laura, of course, was still beating everyone when Dafydd finally pushed his laptop shut. “Okay,” the blond announced, “I’m out. No more lava for me.” 

“Yeah,” Runner agreed, quitting the game and then actually taking the time to shut his laptop down. “It’s almost 11.”

“Eleven? Wow.” Dafydd looked up in surprise at the clock. “I didn’t realize it had gotten that late.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with me,” Paul said, and there was a note of worry in his voice that surprised Lex. 

“Not possible,” Dafydd shot back with a grin as they all packed up their things. 

Lex smiled at their banter, and then turned to Laura. “Need any help putting away the snacks and things?” he asked. 

She fluttered her eyelashes. “Looking for an excuse to get me alone?” 

“Maybe,” Lex replied, grinning. “Or maybe I just want more snacks.” 

“You’ll be okay, Laura?” Dafydd asked, peering back at her. 

“I’m a big girl, Dafydd,” she pointed out, sticking her tongue out at him. It seemed to be a signal, because the other three men left without a fuss. 

Lex walked into the kitchen, Laura wheeling herself behind him. “Okay,” he said, choosing a bowl of Chex Mix and holding it up to show her. “Where does this go?”

She told him, and soon they had all the snacks put away and all the dishes in the dishwasher. Laura showed him how it worked, and it was soon humming. “Come sit?” she asked, apparently not wanting him to leave just yet.

“Sure.” Nothing she’d done that evening had made him any less interested in her. He still didn’t know anything about her injury or the chair, but he’d done some research and had some general ideas. He knew the last thing she probably wanted was to talk about that, though, so he started with a different subject as he settled on the couch and she settled her wheelchair across from him, knees almost touching. “So...is Runner gay or not?” 

She burst out laughing, and gave him an eyebrow wiggle. “Why, interested?”

He laughed along with her. “I dated a few guys in college,” he told her. “But, no, I’m just curious.” 

“I think he’s straight,” she said, “But I’ve never asked him, so I don’t know.” 

“Fair enough,” he replied. “How long have Paul and David been together?”

“Not that long. They were both pretty stupid about it at first.” She rolled her eyes. “I kept telling Dafydd, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“One of those couples, then,” Lex chuckled. “I know another like that. So, uh...Jim said he didn’t think you had a boyfriend.” 

“He wouldn’t know. If I had one, it would probably be online,” Laura pointed out, adopting a faux poker face. Her eyes were sparkling, though. 

“Fair point.” Lex smiled, and leaned forward a little. “So, do you have one?”

“Well,” Laura replied, poker face still in place, “There’s this guy I’m thinking about. I haven’t spent much time with him yet, though.” 

“Yeah? And what do you think about him?” Lex was more than willing to play her game. 

“Well, he’s a decent hacker. But he doesn’t seem to care that I’m better than he is. Good gamer, but doesn’t storm off the first time he gets fragged.” 

Lex pretended to frown. “That seems promising.” 

“Yeah. I even invited him out on a date,” Laura told him. 

“Oh?” Lex raised his eyebrows. “How did that go?”

“Well, he brought me flowers. Which was nice,” Laura said. “And he made an excuse to stick around after everyone else had left. So I think he’s still interested.”

Lex smiled. “I think that’s a safe assumption,” he agreed. 

“On the other hand, he’s not who he says he is. He works for the government, but pretends to write greeting cards.” Laura pursed her lips. 

Lex nodded, sobering. “He probably has a very good reason for that.” 

“Maybe. But it still worries me,” Laura replied. 

“That’s fair. Not only would you not know what he’s done, he might just up and leave on your for a week or two at a time with no notice and no contact during his absence.” Lex didn’t want to have to admit that he’d have to go radio-silent, but he figured he should be up front about it. 

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed. “But at least he’s--I’m--warning you in advance?”

“You are,” she agreed, nodding. “And I do appreciate that. Are _you_ single?” 

“Very,” he assured her. 

She considered him for a few moments in what could have been an uncomfortable silence, but somehow wasn’t. “You haven’t asked me any of the obvious questions.” 

“I wasn’t sure you would want to talk about any of it,” Lex replied with a shrug. “Especially since we don’t know each other that well yet.” 

“I’d actually prefer to get this part over with, so you can leave if you want to,” Laura said with a twitch of her eyebrows. “But first, I need you to answer another question. Are you just into me because of the wheelchair?”

Lex blinked in surprise, and reflexively leaned back a little. “What? No. No, I’m not like that. I like you because you’re smart, and funny, and a whole lot less crazy than my most recent ex.”

Laura smiled gently. “I didn’t think so, but I wanted to be sure. I’m not trying to kink-shame anyone, but that’s not my thing.”

“Mine either,” Lex agreed, shaking his head. 

“Okay. So, let’s see. This happened years and years ago, in a car crash in high school. I don’t remember much of the crash itself except for the noise. It’s a C6 spinal cord injury, which means that I have no feeling from the top of my ribcage down. I can sort of feel some things in my arms, and sometimes I can move them a little, but that’s about it. I can feel everything from the neck up just fine. I use diapers because I have no control down there. I can still have sex and get pregnant, but I can’t feel it, so a lot of it happens in my head.” She paused, looking at Lex. “Too blunt?”

Lex had gone red despite himself. “No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “Thank you for telling me all that. It can’t be easy.”

Laura blew out a breath. “I’m a big girl. I can talk about it.” Lex could tell that some of that was false bravado, that she now expected him to make some excuse and leave. He thought about it, and found that he didn’t want to. “Any other questions?” she asked him.

Lex considered that for a moment, then reached out and slowly and gently slid a hand down her bare arm. “Can you feel this?”

Laura smiled, a look of relief momentarily appearing on her face. “Yeah,” she said. “Sometimes it feels good and sometimes it feels bad, though. There are days when I get to experience what having carpal tunnel’s like. They suck.” 

“Ugh.” Lex made a face as he held her hand--gently, not trying to straighten out her fingers or entwine them or anything. “I used to get some wrist pain before I made everything ergonomic. I can’t imagine feeling like that all day long.” 

Laura nodded slightly. “Like I said, it sucks.” 

Lex leaned forward a little more, and tried to give her his most charming smile. “I do have one more question.”

Laura raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?” 

“What’s your opinion on kissing on the first date?” 

She smiled broadly. “It depends on the circumstances.”

Lex reached out with his other hand, and ran a thumb along her cheekbone. “What about these circumstances?”

“Hmm. I think I’m in favor,” she replied, so he leaned forward even further, cupping her head gently with his hand, and pressed his lips to hers. It was nothing like kissing Olivia. With Olivia, sparks had flown. Probably literal ones that he should have paid more attention to. With Laura, however, it was a slow build of warmth as she moved her mouth against his. 

Lex let the kiss linger, but kept it chaste. He was happy to see that Laura looked flushed when he pulled back--he knew he was a little flushed, too. He smiled, and withdrew the hand that was in her hair, but kept holding her hand. “Still think it’s a good idea?” he teased. 

“Yes. Definitely, yes,” Laura replied, smiling. “Unfortunately, I do still have work to do tonight. And it’s the kind of thing that’s for my eyes only, or I’d let you stay.” 

“Okay,” Lex replied. He hadn’t expected to take anything any further tonight, anyway. “Then I’ll get out of your hair. But before I go, what would you say to dinner and a movie next week?”

“Oh. Uh, I don’t really like to go out in public much,” Laura admitted. “But my TV screen is huge, I can get any movie you want, and we could get takeout.” 

Lex beamed at her. “Takeout and a movie sounds great. Friday? About the same time as tonight?”

“Sure. Lord of the Rings marathon?” She grinned up at him as he stood, letting go of her hand. 

“A woman after my own heart,” Lex said, splaying a hand across his chest. “I could pick up the takeout if you like. There’s a great Indian place near my house. Want to try it?”

“Sure! I love chicken tikka masala,” Laura replied. “And samosas of any kind. Just don’t skimp on the naan, okay?”

Lex laughed. “Extra naan, got it. In the meantime, expect some texts from me. Good night, Laura.” He stooped down to give her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Good night, Lex,” she replied, smiling at him. 

As Lex left with a bounce in his step, he reminded himself to ask her about that fortified door of hers...next time.


End file.
